


remember death

by Silverwolf735



Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, Unus Annus - Fandom, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Memento mori, No Beta, Platonic Crankiplier, Unus Annus, Unus and Annus being edgy, literally just sad fluff, mark and Ethan being besties, my Unus Annus tribute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27667135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverwolf735/pseuds/Silverwolf735
Summary: the time ticks down always- this is the way of things, and no one knows this better than Unus and Annus. In their last moments, they reflect on humanity, themselves, and Mark and Ethan.NOT CRANKIPLIER, but I guess you can read it that way if you want to.Memento mori
Relationships: Mark Fischbach & Ethan Nestor, Unus & Annus
Kudos: 15





	remember death

⧖꩜ memento mori ꩜⧖

unus knew time was running out for himself and his companion. the clock was steadily ticking downwards. 

the clock had always done so. but there had always been more time left every time unus looked up at it, so unus had purposefully tried to forget about the steady march towards death. unus had consoled himself by ignoring the oncoming end of his existence by focusing on the the time he had. this ensured that unus always lived in the moment, of course, but it also meant that unus wasn't prepared for the end as wholly as annus was.

unus sat on his ebony colored chair beside annus, in the black and white world of their creation, eyes fixated on the clock that was ever ticking. the clock floated in the sky- a rectangle of almost pure black, with white characters counting down the time left. the rectangle was suspended in midair, high above unus and annus, surrounded by black and white clouds. the sky was an exponential spiral of ebony and ivory. The floor was colored similarly to the human world, greens and yellows, reds and other colors abounded. 

"it's almost beautiful, isn't it?" 

"what is?" annus asked, eyes piercing the other man. in the human realm, unus' appearance would be considered ethereal, with a halo of light wrapping around the younger man's hair. Ribbons of pure light wrapped around unus' body, radiating off of him. This was contrasting unus' dark outfit and accessories. for annus, it was just another day. 

annus looked very much the opposite of unus, yet still transcendent, in his own way. He wore a white suit, with dark shadows hanging off his form as he moved, similar to the tales of Hades of the mortal world- shadows clinging to annus' body made him seem otherworldly. which he was. 

unus' facial features were naturally highlighted by his halo of pure light, his skin almost glowing. his skin was pale, and shining like a freshly fallen coat of snow. annus' complexion was darker, with shades dripping from his cheekbones and strong jawline, making his face seem deeper and wiser than it was. unus' eyes were deep, dark pools that draw you in with one glance. his eyes were as black as night. annus' were white, almost divine in nature. they were perfectly contrasting beings. 

"how inevitable it is." unus commented, pointing to the clock. "the humans can fight it all they want, but death still comes for them. just as it does them, it will for us." 

annus hummed. "we have lived many, many eons, my friend." annus recalled. "light and darkness. good and evil. order and chaos. balance between the two." annus's eyes drifted over their mindscape. the black swirls in the white clouds made the entire universe seem to be moving. neither unus nor annus were good or evil, light or darkness. they, in all honesty, were gray. But the white and black contrasted better and worked better with their skin tones, according to annus, and who was unus to argue? they were going to die anyway. 

"but even we are not eternal." unus continued. "it is fascinating how quickly humans get sick of each other. you and I have been stuck here together for millions of years and yet I still will be broken-hearted when we must leave." 

"our 'vessels' will continue our work for us, pal." annus clapped unus on the shoulder reassuringly. "mark and ethan are an observant pair."

"I fear they don't appreciate each other as much as they should." unus fretted, sighing. he scraped the black nail polish off his fingers, figuring he wouldn't need them to look perfect, since soon he would cease to exist anyway

"they will learn. humans have short lives. they all must learn to appreciate what they have while they have it." annus consoled unus.

"good." unus nodded, still a little unsure. "It feels surreal that it's already the end. we gave mark and ethan a year. time certainly passes quicker when you don't want a certain date to arrive."

annus chuckled, staring at the giant clock painted in their sky, steadily counting down from 000:02:12, 000:02:11, 000:02:10. "that is true." 

unus reached forward and clapped annus on the shoulder. "it was a good run."

"that it was." 

there was a bittersweet feeling in the air- almost painfully sorrowful yet so full of love that it was hard to be unhappy. even facing their death, the two of them were sitting together in harmony just like every other moment in their little paradise. there was something unbearably tragic about the end. the two of them would pass on, and likely never see each other, or anything else again. such is the way of the clock. once they started the clock, that signified that the eternal ones were ready for their end. they prepared two people to end things for them in the real world- to teach humanity about the constant march of Time.

annus hummed a sad tune, one that was often featured in the videos that their counterparts posted daily for a year. "I hope they remember us." annus paused his tune, sighing. "but humanity is such a fickle, unpredictable species." 

"agreed." unus smiled affectionately. "but they're beautiful people. they're good and you know it." 

"not all of them." 

"but some of them are." unus reminded his partner. "and that's enough."

there were a few moments of contented silence between the two friends. annus smiled, brilliantly white eyes taking in their beautiful world of black and white. a few tears slipped past unus's eyelids, dripping down his cheeks as he watched his friend watch the clock tick down from forty seconds. "do you think we'll ever see each other again?"

annus reached forward and hugged unus, wrapping his strong arms around the younger man. "I certainly hope so, unus. I don't know where we're going, but I'll miss you, old friend." annus's voice was comforting, but it was shaking like a leaf. unus hugged his friend harder. 

"I'll miss you too." unus whispered. The sorrow finally got to him, and as the clock finally ticked down from 10, unus dismissed a few warm tears into annus' shoulder, the drops temporarily staining annus' pure white suit. 

9

annus squeezed unus tighter. unus' brother in arms was keeping him from falling apart completely before their death. Time seemed to slow for a second as unus finally stopped crying. 

8 

unus pulled away from his friend, instead grabbing annus' hand, and squeezing it tightly. 

7 

"Death is just a new adventure, unus." annus hummed, looking at the clock with steely eyes.

6

"Yes it is." Ethan murmured. "I just hope that we can explore this new adventure together."

5 

A tear dropped down Mark's cheek, the previously strong one finally being hit with the finality of their actions. 

4

it was like time was breezing by, and whenever Ethan blinked, the numbers on the black and white clock had been drastically changed. this had been the case throughout the entire year, but Ethan only really felt it now, before the end. 

3 

but Ethan wasn't afraid- he was standing by his partner in crime, his friend. there was no one he would've preferred to do this with. When Ethan and Mark had been chosen so many eons ago, never had Ethan considered that the two of them would be so close. 

2 

It was almost funny how their reincarnations had found each other.

1

"I love you." 

"I love you t-"

00:00:00 

The clock stopped, and disappeared from the sky in black and white specks. The same went for the sky. The trees, the clouds, the ground beneath them- the whole entire world breaking apart into dust. Unus and Annus didn't go into dust. They dissolved into sparkles, both entities floating up into the sky before dissipating, holding hands all the while. 

As their world broke apart, their foundations tore, and nothing was left. No evidence of Unus and Annus' existence remained on their realm. Their spirits visited the human realm. 

The spirits flew around the world, visiting 4.5 million people. Many were crying. Some were smiling. Some were smiling and crying. Some kept the true spirit of Unus Annus, and had allowed the videos to be deleted. Others had decided that the pain was too much- they elected to save the videos, to have something to look back on, to remind them of their beloved YouTube channel. Others downloaded the videos for their own means- to repost after it was gone, against the wishes of Mark and Ethan. Many were wearing the merchandise that Mark and Ethan had created to remind people of what they had been a part of.

But even though most of them were far apart, the members of Unus Annus felt very together in their loss. 

There were group chats, online, in which many fans mourned together. The live chat on the live stream was flooded with people grieving the heinous loss. This year had been terrible for the humans, the spirits knew, and many humans had expressed that Unus Annus was the first thing that had given them happiness this year. 

This had pleased both Unus and Annus, to have started something that caused so much joy. Watching the humans mourn was almost as tragic as knowing that once they visited everyone, Unus and Annus and what remained of them would vanish forever, never to be seen again. People would have only the memories and the merch. 

And of course, the beloved live stream, where Mark and Ethan sat in chairs next to each other numbly, exchanging glances, unsure of what to say but goodbye. 

Then Mark stood up, out of their casket, and Ethan instinctively did the same. Ethan hugged Mark, on live stream, in front of their entire fan base. Mark rested his face onto Ethan's shoulder for a few seconds, remaining tears leaking from his eyes. Ethan buried his face into Mark's neck, both silently grieving the loss of their beloved hobby, and remembering and appreciating how far the two of them have come as friends. 

Life went on. People grieved for days, months on end, but the clock didn't stop ticking once. 

Mark and Ethan moved onto bigger projects, bigger things, both reaching a large amount of people. For the first few months, even years, there were comments below their videos, each person mourning the channel in their own way. Ethan and Mark had moved on and did what they each individually did best on their channels. Occasionally they made collaborations together, but soon people stopped commenting obsessively about Unus Annus. Eventually, people stopped making art, editors stopped making edits, and the world spun on. 

Months passed. Then years. Things happened. People grew older, and wiser. Some died. Unus Annus hadn't been forgotten, no, but everyone moved onto bigger things. Occasionally Mark and Ethan would make references to the channel in their videos, but it wasn't the same. 

But often, whether there were months or years in between them, someone (usually someone different every time) commented Unus Annus on the videos Ethan and Mark made. Until Mark and Ethan each made their last video. And everyone who remembered the videos, the stories- everyone who was there- replied with memento mori, or some variant. That was how we all knew that Unus Annus wasn't gone, wasn't forgotten, it was just put to the side for now. The ones who remembered were still out there. 

New people joined the Markiplier and CrankGameplays fandoms, and they looked on in confusion as people commented two words and got thousands of likes, but only a few- around 4.5 milllion people in total- truly understood what they meant. 

The world kept spinning. The time kept ticking. And once the last person who remembered death, remembered Unus Annus died out, so did Unus and Annus, forever.

It was a peaceful death. And that was all Unus and Annus could ask for.

⧖꩜ memento mori ꩜⧖

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody~ this is Julia, here with some random crap that I'm spitting out out of mourning for my favorite channel. 
> 
> I HAVE N E V E R posted anything on Archive of Our Own before, so pleaaase take it easy on me T^T
> 
> I know that everyone does the Unus Annus lore ending one shots, and I kinda wanted to do my own rendition of that. 
> 
> I personally feel like I'm still in the grieving process where some days are worse than others- I haven't cried since the live stream, even though I feel like I desperately have to, some days, and especially right now, but I can't bring myself to do it. I'll probably have a breakdown somewhere along the line, but until then I'm still up and functioning, even though I am NOT up to my usual standards. 
> 
> I know that everyone is going through this differently, and I understand :) This was what I consider to be the most special thing I've been a part of in my life. 
> 
> Mark and Ethan told us to move on, and Mark said that they weren't going to hold our hands anymore. I think it's healthy to move on. But it's also good to remember. That's what Ethan and Mark have told us to do since the beginning- remember death, or roughly translated, remember that we will die. In our case, Unus Annus died. Let's remember. 
> 
> I hope you guys noticed how I went from all lowercase to using the correct capitalization near the end- that was meant to emphasize a whisper-shout effect? Kind of thing??? I’m not really sure where I was going with this I was just sadddd 
> 
> I also changed Unus and Annus into Mark and Ethan near the end- but the Mark and Ethan that I was talking about is both not the same and also the same as the Mark and Ethan that we know. It's like a merging of identities, because if you pay attention, it's Mark and Ethan dying as Unus and Annus, but it's also them saying goodbye on the live stream at the same time. This was made to show the point that they are also losing a part of themselves :( 
> 
> But anywaaaaays-
> 
> This book will be my place for all things Unus Annus, essentially. If I write more one shots or ficlets I'll post them here as well? For now I’m not sure. I will probably post this on Wattpad and update more there just because I’m more used to that formatting. This is practice. 
> 
> Kay Kay it's 2:30 AM, I'm gonna dip for now. 
> 
> \- julia <3


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